He was Beaten
by Arhani 'Hanny' Daforcena
Summary: Aoshi wakes up in the Aoiya after losing his duel with Kenshin, and lashes out against Misao, asking her to take her revenge for Okina's death and not to pity him. What she said next made him realize other things that never really occurred to him. Movie-verse, AoshiXMisao.


"Your life no longer belongs to you," Misao told him, her voice filled with steel that he had never known until now. "You will live for Jiya's memory, for me… and the rest of the Oniwabanshu."

She spoke those words with no contempt or tears in her eyes. She spoke them with a resolution that he cou. When he awoke in the Aoiya, the base of the operations of the Oniwabanshu an eternity ago, he had thought that he would have faced their eternal wrath. All that greeted him was Misao, placing a wet towel upon his brow. Okina had already passed onto the afterlife, Himura Battousai had already left for Tokyo.

When Misao left his room, he started to weep. For all that he had done, he did not deserve the fate that the Oniwabanshu had given him. He did not deserve their forgiveness, but they had given it so freely, without grudge nor condition. Him, a beaten man.

He was beaten, because he, the Okashira of the Oniwabanshu had failed to protect his men. When the Bakufu fell and they lashed out against their former agents. The Oniwabanshu, protectors of Edo Castle were the first to face their wrath. He was beaten because he could only watch them fall, one by one, shielding him with their bodies from the barrage of bullets that were fired upon them. He could only watch and run. Their bodies were strewn across the field, and he had been unable to retrieve them.

He was beaten, because in his grief and his self-anger, he had turned himself away from those that needed him the most. Those that looked onto him for support and guidance. He had left Kyoto for Edo Castle because of them in the first place. He was beaten because he did not realize that in the ten years he had sought vengeance against the man who broke the foundations of the Bakufu, he had pushed those that needed him, those that made him the man he was, away. Misao was the first one to have fallen from his sight. Okina was a fine second. The rest of them just disappeared into nothingness. They would return when his mission was accomplished, he said to himself.

He was beaten even before he set his kodachi against Battousai himself. He was beaten because he was unable to best his self-proclaimed rival. It was not caused by a difference in skill, nor was it due to any mistakes that he had performed. It was only within the fact that for whatever reason, Battousai had a… different kind of strength within him. His movements were flawless, his blows deadly (and perhaps fatal, if not for the fact that he now wielded a sakabattou instead), but Aoshi could match them perfectly. What decided their duel was the sudden burst of strength that Battousai had in him.

He was lucky to have been beaten by Battousai. If it was any other man, he would have left the earth with fury in his heart and anger in his soul. Although he had screamed and moaned in pain following his defeat, it was only so that the ten years of suffering that he had kept within him would dissipate.

He stood up and donned the black yukata that was sitting right by the door. They were in mourning, and it was his doing. He was the one who had caused the death of Okina, in the wake of his quest to defeat Battousai.

Leaving the confines of his room, he entered the courtyard. Okina had already been laid to rest, his grave marked by a small tombstone beneath the great pine tree that he favored. All of them, the Kyoto branch of the Oniwabanshu, were there. Misao was the first to notice his presence and nodded. In fact, all of them saw him after Misao did. They did not lash out at him. They did not scorn him. There was uneasiness, there was fear, but not towards him. They once followed him through life and death, and at the wake of Okina's death at his hands, they did not cast him out. Okina had risked his life to bring him back to the path that he should have tread, and they saw no reason to force him out of it. It would mean disrespect to Okina's soul and earthly intentions.

Aoshi bowed towards the tombstone, and then to the rest of them. "I have failed you," he told them, his voice clear, although it remained as stoic as ever. "I ask your forgiveness."

All of them bowed towards him. Shiro, Kuro, Omasu and Okon. This was the Aoshi that they had known. Ten years of grief and regret had changed him, warped him. But the Aoshi that stood before them was the one that had led their organization through the darkness of the Bakumatsu at the tender age of fifteen, no longer the Aoshi that had only despair and hatred.

"It's good to have you back," Misao said, trying her utmost not to shed a tear, nor betray a shred of what she was feeling to him. "At least, Jiya will know that his efforts are not…"

For whatever reason, she could not finish her sentence. Instead of the ability to speak, she felt an unknown force drawing her towards Aoshi. Within seconds, she was buried in his embrace. What kind of a feeling was this, she did not understand, but a gentle warmth engulfed her, enveloping her in waves and waves. Tears filled her eyes, but she knew that they were not tears of sadness, nor were they of joy. They had simply meant that she finally received what she had always yearned for.

"If it were not for you, Misao, I could not have regained my senses. I now know that my mission was always… you. You are the center of our world." he told her. It was an open proclamation. When her grandfather, the previous Okashira of the Oniwabanshu named him to be the successor of the title, he had sworn to protect Misao with his life. He had moved their forces to Edo Castle just so that the Oniwabanshu could fulfill their oaths to the Bakufu. He was not responsible for the Shogun's surrender of Edo to the Emperor's forces, but still, the remnants of the Shogun's forces sought vengeance upon them. On the day when they were supposed to be executed, she was the only thing in his mind until his men prevented his execution one by one. Yet, when she found him dueling Okina at the old safehouse, he had threatened to kill her if she ever tried to see him again. "By turning against you, I had failed you all."

He did not expect Misao to return his embrace at all. She did not speak, but she was sobbing silently. "You did not fail us, Ao-sama," she reassured him. "You…"

Aoshi did not give her a chance to speak further. Instead he covered his lips over hers, not caring if the others could see. They had always seen this coming. Misao was stunned. She did not know how to react, or what to say, and gave all control to Aoshi. Her wide, azure eyes could do nothing but stare at him as she turned red as a persimmon blossom when they parted, not daring to look at anyone else after such an open… display.

"We will mourn Okina tonight," Aoshi announced, "but tomorrow, I will depart to Tokyo to give aid to Battousai in his fight against Shishio."

"I will come with you," Misao offered.

There was no reason to refuse her.

* * *

HAN: Hello there! This is my very first Rurouni Kenshin fanfic in a long, long time and I hope that you enjoyed this short little piece. It was ultimately inspired by the latter two live action movies. I loved the interaction between Aoshi and Misao during the last moments of The Legend Ends, so it inspired me to write this.


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